Royal Air Force Greatworth

Hi from Vancouver Island,

I wrote to RAF Innsworth and asked for my service record and have had it for some time. I just looked for it to discover what the place was called (eg ??SU) when I was posted there late '43. I cannot find it at the moment and will keep looking. Apart from the pic of the SWB 11, everything is unfamiliar in your photos. I recall that enormous butterfly condenser in the SWB 11 output stage. Back then no accommodation on site. Long, long road from gate to tx building.

Congrats on your reunion

Michael O'Hagan

In a following comunication Michael added:-

Hi Martin, (Tom)

The F.O in the guise of MI6 acquired the BP estate around 1938. It was the tenth in the series of acquisitions

for special purposes and given the nomenclature Station X.

The army element had its own T/R facilities, but I cannot be sure the RAF did not use them.

BP’s own records are poor on the RAF T/R history. Hinsley wrote the definitive history of BP, and we

corresponded in the 1990s. He acknowledged the paucity if comms history, pointing out it was not the aspect

in which the public were interested. We may perhaps assume it started around the same time as the Rx

station

I joined August 40. was at Moreton in the Marsh OTU Sep 42 to early 43. arrived at Chicksands B (Shefford) in

early ‘43-sent there whilst being security cleared. That must have been a couple of months, maybe less, and

many Waaf were similarly being cleared. During this time I went on a course at CREED, Croydon to learn High

speed morse equipment. I shall never forget that when my course assessment was read to me back at

Chicksands, it said, “This airman could not even put a bicycle pedal together.”

When I was posted in to BP, all four watches were working, and there were I think 4 or maybe 8 of us . I was a

WOM.

The 80:80 DTN lines were in and the block was working to SLUs around the world. Church Green was not established until 1944. Greatworth had no resident officer. We, at BP, had four I think. S/L Paterson led three P/Os who did watch duty.

I was taken to GW by Paterson whilst still serving at BP. I guess it was one of his routine visits and he took the opportunity to take me along. I was posted there latish 1944.

I knew of nobody else billeted at Helmdon, but that may not mean much. I once ran a dance at a local pub. I once won a goose egg in a raffle. I would hitch to/from London, recall doing the last bit to Helmdon on a hay-cart. GW worked four watches yet I do not recall ever doing a night shift. It would not have fitted well with landladies. I once rode the liberty truck (6d?) to Banbury. Forgive me if these are snatches of memory. Who was in charge there? I cannot remember. I do recall wanting to go to midnight mass and being sneered at by somebody-and that somebody being told to shut up by whoever it was in charge. I am fairly sure there was no sleeping accommodation and thus everybody must have been billeted out.Off the tx hall, there was a kind of mechanic’s rest room

At no time, as far as I can recall, was GW attacked and I think the same is true of BP. I tell a story of BP at the time when Sicily had been won and the jump to Italy was on. On our link to Catania, the undulators used a tube to convey ink to the pen. We ran out. None to be found anywhere, Frantic calls being made by officers to Creed. I walked downtown to the cycle shop and bought some valve tubing. It solved the problem. That link was back in operation. And the RAF still owes me sixpence.

The path from road/gate to tx hall was very long.

Just had another throw-out looking for my Service records to see what it says about GW. No luck, Will look in the storage room one day.

We seldom repositioned rhombics. I suspect that was because I got there after D-Day and BP was working Italy (and all the fixed stations) and bearings did not change so frequently.,

Sunday morning. 19 degrees. Life is good. I retired at own (foolish) insistence in 1964. The world has changed a bit since then, and because you lot in UK let the pound collapse, I get drastically fewer dollars.

Regards

Michael O'Hagan

Michael Continued again:-

Hi again. I've Found it.

1st March 43 from 21 out to 372 WU. Creed april 10

372 WU April 18 '43. renamed Church Green but with no date given then 8 R.S. in April '45.

No mention of GW and I suspect it was regarded as an outstation of 372 WU

although no mention of GW.

This reads promoted T/Cpl 28.7.44 so that must be when I went to GW.

Not much help, I’m afraid but it makes sense for the RAF to consider GW as an outstation of 372 WU.

Regards

Michael O’Hagan